


smokin' your brains away

by onceagainoncemore



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Eddie Kaspbrak is Bad at Feelings, Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Secret Crush, Secrets, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23508454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceagainoncemore/pseuds/onceagainoncemore
Summary: Richie was smart. Why did he smoke?Richie has a secret that Eddie can't figure out. And he doesn't think he ever will.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 6
Kudos: 66





	smokin' your brains away

**Author's Note:**

> heya!! this is a couple month old tumblr fic that is actually one of my favourite things ive ever written, so i just had to move it over here! hope you enjoy!

Richie was too smart for his own good. He knows how to make people laugh, he knows what to say to teachers to get them off his back, he knows what to whisper into Eddie’s ear to make him blush. Richie knows a lot of things. He won’t study but he’ll be able to help Eddie finish his homework. He’ll fall asleep in class but answer the question perfectly when the teacher calls on him. **  
**

“Bevvie, you got a light?” Richie calls down from above the clubhouse, and Bev yells an affirmative. Richie jumps down, just barely missing Ben’s book, and only fumbles with the lighter for a second when Bev throws it at him. He salutes them, and climbs back up outside.

Richie was smart. Why did he smoke?

Eddie’s asked the question before. _Helps me relax,_ was the best answer he’d gotten out of him. (Richie had also told him _your mom got me addicted. Did you know she smokes after we_ \- and _It’s a secret. Everyone needs a secret_.)

Eddie grabs his red pen, and crosses out a sentence. 

You couldn’t smell the smoke from the clubhouse, but Eddie had memorised the smell long ago. It was Richie, so Eddie didn’t mind the smell, even if it made Eddie gag if he smelt it for too long. He rereads his sentence over and over again, trying to imagine Richie without the smell of his cigarettes, without the sour stale quality of his breath.

What did Richie need to relax from?

He passed just about every test. He doesn’t care about the bullies, or anyone else that wasn’t the Losers and his parents. It was long gone, and none of them had had a nightmare for years. He didn’t have some unrequited crush, as far as the Losers knew.

Richie climbs back down the ladder, slower this time, and stretches out. He’s grown too tall to stand straight up in some parts of the clubhouse, and went home with a scratch across his forehead a week ago. Eddie had bragged about never doing that, so being short had some advantages. Richie didn’t argue, but Eddie suspected it was because the injury had been giving him headaches.

“What are we doing today?” Richie asks, and sits on the hammock. Bev groans, shuffling so Richie can fit, and half of her papers flutter to the ground.

“History,” Eddie says.

“Ugh,” Richie pretends to gag, and Bev stifles a laugh.

“Science,” Bev says, and reaches a hand down to grab some of the sheets of paper. She only succeeds in grabbing two or three, and she shoves them into Richie’s face. “I know you’re already done with this.”

“Excuse you, miss,” Richie says. “I don’t work for free.”

Bev pulls a polaroid out of her pocket. Eddie leans forward to see what the photo is, but he’s too far away. Richie seems to consider the offer, and nods, looking over the papers. Bev grins, and using her legs, begins to sway the hammock. Richie plucks a pen from her hair, and scribbles something, and Bev shrieks.

“That’s nothing like my handwriting!” She giggles.

Eddie doesn’t know what the answer is to the next question in his textbook. He looks up, maybe to ask for Richie’s help, but the words catch in his throat, and all he can do is stare. He doesn’t even know what he’s staring at. It’s just Richie. 

Maybe Richie would know, though.

 _Everyone needs a secret_ , Eddie thinks, and swallows, and puts his head against his textbook. He doesn’t know as much as Richie did, but he knew he wasn’t going to be studying anymore. Did Eddie have a secret? What would he hide from his friends? Himself? _Did Richie have a secret?_

It was no secret that Richie smoked. You could smell it on him, you could catch him in the act if you went just outside the school to an old bus stop during his free period. 

“Don’t think too hard, or your head will explode,” Richie warns, looking up from the papers to wink at Eddie.

“You don’t need to repeat the advice your parents give you to us, Rich,” Eddie says, and Richie chuckles. He’s jealous, but he’s not sure who of. Richie, for being able to be that close to a girl without hyperventilating? His ability to not care who someone was? Or Bev, for being in the same place as Richie without burying her nose into his neck, or grabbing his hands, or giving him gum so she knows what his breath tastes like?

Richie knows a lot about Eddie. If Eddie had a secret, Richie would know it. Why doesn’t Eddie know the same? Richie should be terrible at hiding secrets - Eddie finds his christmas presents in the same cupboard every year, and Richie can only be quiet for so long. If Eddie waits, Richie would tell him everything. He always does. If Eddie just waits, Richie will explain the world to him.

“When’s your work due, Eds?” Eddie can’t even be bothered to make a face at the nickname.

“Couple of days,” Eddie says, and Richie slides of the hammock, and walks to where Eddie is lying, kicking his shoes off so he doesn’t get anymore dirt on the blanket then what there is already. Eddie lifts his head, but not enough, so Richie has to hold his head as he slides the textbook out.

“I’ll help,” Richie says, and Eddie smiles.

Even if Richie has secrets, he’ll tell them to Eddie, eventually. He’ll even tell Eddie what secrets Eddie himself is hiding deep underneath, if Eddie asks.

**Author's Note:**

> [come hang with me on tumblr! feel free to send any requests or feedback there :)](https://himbotozier.tumblr.com/)


End file.
